Prosecution refers 3 officials from Egyptian museum to trial

The Administrative Prosecution decided Wednesday to refer three officials at the Egyptian museum to trial over charges of negligence, according to a statement by the prosecution.

The defendants were accused of negligence in the maintenance of lab equipment.

The defendants include the executive director of the Centre for Archaeological Conservation of the museum, the head of the Engineering Committee, and the Director of the museum storehouse.

According to the prosecution’s statement, the executive director of the Centre for Archaeological Conservation was accused of giving the approval for the repair of an electron microscope, worth EGP 11m, outside the museum without taking the required procedures to protect it.

The head of the Engineering Committee failed to take the needed actions to repair an EGP 9m-worth electron beam excitation, which is used in the electron microscope. In addition, the director of the museum’s storehouse failed to put the microscope and the electron beam excitation together at the museum’s storehouse.

Director of the Administrative Prosecution for Antiquities Adel Shahin called for an emergency hearing to try the case. A committee of Cairo University engineering professors, formed by the prosecution, was responsible for forming the technical report that accused the defendants of negligence.

Following the referral decision, the prosecution ordered the formation of a specialised and efficient committee to be responsible for checking and receiving the museum’s devices in the future.